A former sports complex in Homestead, Florida, is about to become one of the most ambitious youth sports campuses in the country. And the people behind it read like the roster of an all-star charity game.
The Sports Performance Hub (SPH) just broke ground on a 92-acre, $280 million campus that will combine elite multi-sport training, a college-prep boarding school, a professional soccer stadium, a hotel, and a sports medicine center. The entire project is privately funded. Taxpayers aren't on the hook for a dollar of it.
The founding group includes NBA champion Manu Ginobili, former Argentine soccer international Juan Sebastián Verón, Olympic gold medalist Pepe Sanchez, ex-ATP player Juan "Pico" Mónaco, NFL veteran Martin Gramatica, Miami FC majority owner Riccardo Silva, and longtime sports executive Nick Sakiewicz, who serves as CEO.
What's Being Built
The campus master plan is dense. Five sports academies covering soccer, tennis, basketball, baseball, and American football. A residential boarding school designed for nearly 600 student-athletes. A 10,000-seat stadium that will serve as the home venue for Miami FC, the Homestead Championship Rodeo, and regional entertainment. A five-star sports-themed hotel. An advanced sports medicine and surgery center with physical therapy and rehabilitation services. And public recreation facilities including a children's park and community infrastructure.
Development is split into two phases. Phase 1 (2025-2026) builds the core non-residential academies and training infrastructure. Phase 2 (2026-2027) adds the hotel, student housing, and the Miami FC stadium.
The build-out is expected to create more than 4,300 construction jobs and around 600 permanent positions once the campus is operational.
The Money Behind It
The $280 million is entirely private capital. The City of Homestead is contributing through an 80-year land lease valued at approximately $60 million, which is excluded from the headline investment figure. That structure keeps the project off the municipal balance sheet while giving SPH long-term site control.
"This project is about more than facilities or investment; it's about people and possibility," said Sakiewicz. "We're creating a place where young athletes can dream bigger, families can see real opportunity close to home, and the Homestead community can thrive alongside them."
The founding group brings a mix of athletic credibility and business experience. Gastón Remy is a former regional president and CEO at Dow Chemical. Emiliano Fernández Balagué co-founded multiple fintech companies. Silva owns Miami FC and runs Silva International, a global media company. The combination of sports names and operational experience gives the project a different profile than a typical real estate play with a sports veneer.
The Latin America Pipeline
Location is doing a lot of work here. Homestead sits at the southern gateway of the Miami metro area, roughly 30 miles from the airport and positioned as a natural bridge between Latin America, the U.S., and global markets.
For a campus designed to attract international student-athletes, that geography matters. SPH's founding group is heavily Latin American, and the campus is clearly designed to pull talent from soccer-rich countries to the south while offering proximity to the U.S. professional sports system.
SPH holds a 60% majority stake in Miami FC, the city's longest-standing professional soccer club. That ownership stake creates something most youth academies can't offer: a direct, internal pathway from student-athlete to professional contract. A kid training at the soccer academy can realistically envision a path to the first team without ever leaving the campus ecosystem.
During the groundbreaking, Miami FC also announced a partnership with Avianca, the Colombian airline, as the team's main kit sponsor and exclusive carrier. That deal further reinforces the Latin American corridor strategy.
The Integrated Model
What makes SPH different from a standalone training facility or a boarding school that happens to have sports is the integration. The campus is designed so that academics, athletics, medical support, and professional pathways all operate under one roof.
Ginobili framed it around the intersection of sports and education. "In a world increasingly driven by technology, the values learned through sports, teamwork, discipline and resilience, are essential for the future. We hope to make SPH a window into the education of tomorrow."
The campus will also allocate 10% of spots as guaranteed scholarships and plans to run community programs focused on female participation and inclusion. Those commitments signal an awareness that a $280 million private campus needs to demonstrate community value beyond job creation.
What This Means for Youth Sports
South Florida's sports ecosystem has been expanding rapidly, with major investments in professional franchises, venues, and youth development infrastructure across the region. SPH is the latest and arguably the most comprehensive addition to that trend.
For youth sports operators and investors, the project raises an interesting question: is the integrated campus model, where training, education, housing, medical care, and professional pathways all live on one site, the future of elite athlete development? Or is it a luxury play that only works with $280 million in private capital and an 80-year land lease?
The answer probably depends on execution. The campus is enormous in scope, and delivering on all of its promises simultaneously, elite coaching across five sports, a rigorous boarding school, a functional professional stadium, a five-star hotel, will require operational discipline that matches the ambition of the founding group.
But the pieces are in place. The capital is committed. The founding team has both sports credibility and business experience. And the location, sitting between one of the world's great talent corridors and one of the fastest-growing sports markets in the U.S., is hard to replicate.
Phase 1 is underway. Phase 2 follows in 2026-2027.
